Service Dogs

There are a number of dogs known for their ability to act as guardians for their owners and their property. Among them are Rottweilers, Dobermans, German Shepherds and Bull Mastiffs. These dogs have specific temperaments that include a protective instinct that is vital for a guard dog. [...]

Usually, when people group Akitas together, there is no distinction between the Japanese Akita and American Akita. In the States and in parts of Canada, an Akita may originate in Japan or not. In Japan, however, any dog that is mixed outside the gene pool of the traditional Akita bloodline is not considered "pure," and it is usually classified differently. [...]

Training an Akita entails a lot of patience and hard work, but the pay-off can be great. Akitas can become possessive, territorial and even destructive when not properly trained. It is an intelligent breed of dog which is usually known to be docile and non-aggressive. These traits can be achieved through proper training, early lessons in socialization and a lot of mental stimulation. [...]

Alapaha Blue Blood Bulldogs are quite rare; not everyone agrees on a number, but some reports indicate that there are presently less than two hundred Alapaha Blue Blood Bulldogs in the world. That being said, there is enough information on these rare dogs to piece together some important facts about the personality of the breed. While there are some disagreements about its history or its standard, everyone agrees that these dogs have remarkable temperaments. Often described as protective, one interesting facet of its temperament stands out: its ability to pause and reflect before acting. This lends credence to the idea that Alapaha Blue Blood Bulldogs are not just guard dogs, but thinking guard dogs. [...]

Alapaha Blue Blood Bulldogs are well loved for their docile temperaments, their energy and agility and their devotion to their families, but the one characteristic that that stands out and makes them prized by their owners is their natural guarding and protecting instincts. [...]

Shelties are one of the most intelligent dog breeds. This intelligence makes them prime candidates for showing and other competitions. Two of the types of competitions to which shelties are well suited are obedience and herding competitions.Obedience competitions measure how well dogs perform the commands as directed by their handlers. The dogs are measured on activities such as heeling, sitting and lying down. Obedience competitions are conducted at several levels.Dogs begin at the novice level, where they must demonstrate only the most basic commands. The second level, called open, is more difficult, with tasks like heeling off leash, performing figure eights off leash, retrieving, jumping and longer periods of sitting and lying down required.Finally, as dogs have more training and develop more skill, they move on to the utility competition, the most difficult level. In utility competition dogs must respond to hand signals for basic commands such as "sit", "lie down", "come", and "stand". At this level of competition, voice signals are not used for basic commands. Dogs must also perform scent discrimination tasks, where the dog will be directed to find their handler's scent among a pile of articles. They will also be required to retrieve and return an item to the handler after being directed to do so only by hand signals.Herding competitions are designed for herding dog breeds, such as the Sheltie, Collie, Border Collie and Sheepdog. These competitions are sometimes referred to as "sheepdog trials". In herding competitions the dogs must move sheep around a field, fences, gates, or enclosures as directed by their handlers. Some farmers use these competitions to teach their dogs proper herding techniques for use on the farm, while other dogs competing are just doing so as a hobby. Herding competitions are gaining popularity in the United States and are sometimes included as part of agility competitions for herding breeds. These competitions have been very popular for many years in hill farming areas, where dogs are still widely used for herding. They are particularly popular in the United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. [...]

The Sheltie breed was developed as a herding dog. The breed was first developed in the Shetland Islands by crossing collies with the Icelandic Yakkin, a small island dog that came to the Shetland Islands via fisherman, who kept these small dogs as companions and rat hunters on their boats. [...]

The Scottish Terrier, like most Highland Terriers, was originally bred in order to assist with the work of small game hunters and farmers in Scotland. Virtually everything about the breed was worked for with the singular idea of hunting in mind, and most of those traits still survive to this day, making the Scottie suitable as a working dog despite their rampant popularity as a family pet. [...]

All hounds are pack breeds and historically American Foxhounds and their relatives the English Foxhounds were only kept in packs of several dogs, often more than 10, that would eat, sleep, play and hunt together. [...]

Dogs have always been able to track their prey, and for centuries man has used dogs to his benefit and often for survival. Tracking events are a way to show your American foxhound's power at recognizing and following the disturbed vegetation scent or scent trail left by another animal or person. [...]

The Newfoundland is an excellent dog to use for therapeutic reasons as it has a reassuring and devoted demeanor, but it has even more to offer. His main historical use is that of a search and rescue dog. His personality lends this dog to being a compassionate source of comfort for an ailing person as well as to the extreme rigors of saving a drowning, struggling person. And the explanation for this versatility can be found in the large, cuddly and somewhat deceiving physique of the Newfoundland. [...]

Newfoundlands were bred to be work dogs, hauling sled and cart goods that needed to be transported in a time before mass transport over extreme distances. They soon became staples on ships because of their hereditary physical and personality traits.The Newfoundland dog's extremely fit legs and webbed toes make swimming a cinch for them. They also possess lungs that allow them long periods under water. [...]

There are a number of dog breeds available that herd large groups of animals with great precision and ease. However, in the 1800's Australian cattle ranchers not only wanted but needed a resourceful dog with the moxie to withstand the country's harsh conditions. [...]

Though commonly known as the Barkless Dog, the Basenji is also referred to as the Dog of the Bush Hunters. Though the breed has existed for thousands of years, it wasn't until the late 1930's that the rest of the world found out about the Basenji. Before then, they were used as hunting dogs for the people of the Congo in central Africa. [...]

Reaching back to the dawn of man, dogs and humans have always been partners on the field when it comes to hunting. Thousands of years ago, ancient man and wolves worked together and shared the kill. Wolves were eventually mated with other breeds to create more able and loyal kinds of hunting dog. More so than their independent wolf fore bearers, today's hunting dogs tend to be satisfied with being their human partner's right hand man, hunting for the sport of the chase and to earn reverence in the eyes of their master. [...]